It’s been a big year for Elvis Presley. Baz Luhrmann’s extravagant biopic starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks was released earlier this year and became quite the success, but now it’s Priscilla Presley’s turn to shine. Sofia Coppola is set to direct a Priscilla Presley biopic as her next project.
Sofia Coppola has tapped Cailee Spaeny (The First Lady) to play Priscilla Presley and Jacob Elordi (The Kissing Booth) to play Elvis. According to Deadline, Coppola met with a lot of actors for the role of Elvis before Elordi came out on top, but Spaeny was always her first choice for Priscilla. The movie will be based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me, the New York Times Bestseller first published in 1985. Coppola has been wanting to develop the Priscilla biopic for some time and will also write the script in addition to directing. Production on the biopic will kick off in Toronto this fall.
Priscilla Presley first met Elvis in 1959 when she was just 14-years-old, and after a long courtship, the pair married in 1967 and had one child not long after, Lisa Marie Presley. Both Elvis and Priscilla had affairs outside the marriage and they ultimately finalized their divorce in 1973. Upon the death of Elvis and his father, Priscilla took control over his estate and is largely credited with growing the Presley fortune when she turned Graceland into a tourist attraction.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie explored the life and music of the iconic musician as seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The story chronicles the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker from his initial rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom. The film is now streaming on HBO Max and will be released on Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD tomorrow.